Tag Archives: Rony Turiaf

Let’s just call this one B minus two. B as in Beans. The Warriors are counting down the games until their starting center returns to action, and they never missed him more than they did on this night. Because with Biedrins in the middle for this game, the Warriors might very well have come away with the win. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph steamrolled the Warriors front line for a combined 55 points and 27 rebounds, and came within one of fouling out both of the Warriors “centers,” Chris Hunter and Anthony Randolph.

The Warriors are +7.5 road dogs to the Memphis Grizzlies? Wow, when is the last time you saw a Warriors/Grizzlies line like that? Unfortunately, I can’t find much fault with it. This ain’t your grandpappy’s Grizzlies. This team has a loaded starting lineup, and they are really starting to play. In the last three weeks, they’ve beaten the Mavs, the Cavs, and the Nuggets at home. Impressive.

Welcome back Don Nelson! The Warriors’ capo is returning to the bench tonight after his bout with pneumonia.

The Warriors are +2 home dogs against Houston tonight. The Warriors lost by 1 to Houston at home in a heartbreaker on opening night, but they will not be taking the floor with the same team tonight. How about no Biedrins, no Randolph, no Jackson, no Azubuike, and possibly no Turiaf? In their place, Vlad Rad and Chris Hunter. And maybe Devean George. In the Warriors favor, the Rockets are playing the back end of a back-to-back (they demolished the Gordon-less Clippers last night in LA).

Hey, the Warriors are actually favorites tonight! How long has it been since that happened? The Pacers will enter the Oracle having lost 4 of their last 5 games. This is not the same team that won three straight by beating the Warriors back in Indiana. Why not? For a very simple reason: Troy Murphy is back.

Monta vs. Kobe! The Lakers invade the Oracle tonight. We’re hoping that the newly super-charged Warriors can get an upset win, but let’s be real, all eyes will be focused on the battle of one-named wonders. Can Monta do to Kobe what he did to Brandon Roy?

As a closet Clippers fan, I was delighted with the opportunity to watch this game.

Since the Warriors handled the Grizzlies easily, but got blown off the court by the Clippers, it should have been easy to predict how the Clippers would fare against the Grizzlies at home, right? Wrong. This game was closely contested throughout, and was finally decided only as the final horn sounded, when Rudy Gay’s dead-on 3 point attempt hit the back rim. How is this possible?

There’s not much to say about this game, which means the anti-Nelson wolfpack, led by Kawakami, Lauridsen and Lepper will have a whole lot to talk about. Or should I say howl about.

Don’t be fooled. The Warriors had no chance to win this game. Ever. Starting from the moment that Biedrins was declared unavailable. With no Biedrins and no Turiaf, the Warriors had no way to match up with this very underrated Clippers team.

The Suns are clearly a much better team right now than the Warriors. Yes, the Warriors got a horrible whistle in the first half, which makes it hard to win against anybody. Yes, they shot 42%, which shouldn’t happen often. Yes, they turned the ball over 22 times against a defense that is among the worst in the league, which is uncharacteristic. And yes, it was a road game. But still it can’t be denied that the Suns were the far better team.

Unfortunately, my Pre-Game Jitters pretty much captured the story of this game. This was a nightmare matchup for the Warriors. It is not easy for a team that is searching for its identity to face one of the best defensive teams in the league in their first game of the season. And that is what this Houston team is. They executed a beautiful defensive game plan, which caught the Warriors in its snare in a disastrous third quarter. On offense, their undersized front-line proved a Don Nelson axiom: Very talented power forwards will almost always beat less-talented centers. And Trevor Ariza went unguarded much of the night and nearly matched his career high for points. Continue reading →